


This is A Victory

by MagitekUnit05953234



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Cats, Fluff, Gen, Ignoct if you squint at the end, Let Noct Be Happy, Those Boys Go To a Cat Shelter, Writing anything with Drautos kills me y'all because I KNOW, and these kids DON'T, brotherhood era, i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 01:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16295687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagitekUnit05953234/pseuds/MagitekUnit05953234
Summary: “This is stupid,” Noctis huddles down in his chair. “I wanna go home.”“We have an appointment. It’s good form to keep it. Besides,” Ignis adds when he catches Noct’s skeptical look. “Drautos took all the trouble of driving us here. I would hate to waste his time.”





	This is A Victory

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "cats" from Tumblr user raneam-o1's gothic prompt list.

“This is stupid,” Noctis huddles down in his chair. “I wanna go home.”

Ignis reminds himself that this is a victory. Those are the most words Noctis has spoken of his own volition at one time since returned from Tenebrae. 

“We have an appointment. It’s good form to keep it. Besides,” Ignis adds when he catches Noct’s skeptical look. “Drautos took all the trouble of driving us here. I would  _ hate _ to waste his time.”

It’s a little mean to do that, seeing as Noctis has shrunk away into nothing every time he thought he was inconveniencing someone with his condition so far, but for gods’ sake Ignis is nine years old (going on a very mature ten, as he’ll remind anyone who listens) and he can only do so much for his best friend.

“Fine.”

The shelter employees do a pretty good job of treating Ignis and Noctis like any other visitors, turning blind eyes to the incredibly imposing ‘Glaive lingering behind the two boys. Noctis doesn't say a word when Ignis and Drautos sort out the details of their visit. Noctis just stares at his hands clasped loosely in his lap, and Ignis prays that this works as well as he thought it would when he petitioned for the permission to do this. 

“Oh,” Noctis says when Ignis pushes his chair into the room. “That’s… a lot of cats.”

He’s not wrong. Lining the back wall like cabinets is a sturdy set of cages, spacious and comfortable-looking, with padded bottoms and cat toys galore. Many of them are occupied with dozing felines, while a few sit empty. Their owners wander the room, curiously eyeing the newcomers. 

“Do you want to hold one?” Ignis asks, stepping away from Noctis’s chair so the prince can move around the room on his own. 

There's a light in Noctis’s eyes that wasn't there before. This is a victory, Ignis reminds himself. 

Noctis grips the wheels of his chair and moves forward slowly, To Ignis's surprise, Noctis makes his way toward the set of cages and not one of the cats that is already out. 

Noctis inspects the cages and their signs informing readers of what cars belong to which cage (Mercury, Ōji, Lily, Coeurl) and finds one he likes, tapping a finger against the door of the cage. “This one. Can I…?”

“Highness, I don’t know if we can take cats out of their beds,” Ignis sends a questioning glance to Drautos.

The ‘Glaive crosses the room, emerging from where he had been blending in with the wallpaper. The key to the door is clutched in his right hand. “We have blanket permission to take cats out as long as they aren't sleeping and we put them back,” Drautos puts the key in its slot, then pauses as he takes a closer look at the cat. “You sure you want this one, little prince?”

“Yes.”

And that’s that. 

“Be careful with him,” Drautos warns as he lifts the little cat out of the cage and lowers it to Noctis’s lap. “He can’t see what you’re doing.”

Ignis looks closer at this cat’s sign and sees under the notes section:  _ I'm blind, but I can recognize anyone I meet after I meet them! I’m a total lovebug. _

Noctis lights up when the cat nuzzles into his hand. He smiles widely. “He’s kinda scary but I love him.”

The cat, named Agni according to his collar, is missing his left eye entirely and the right is cloudy and sightless. Ignis’s heart hurts for the little cat. To be such a tiny little thing, living in a dark world with no proper home? It’s just sad. 

Noctis is loathe to go home by the time their appointment is over. They are finishing up at the reception desk when Noctis blurted out, “Can I keep Agni?”

The prince reddens and ducks his head when every person in the room turns to look at him. 

Drautos chuckles. “His Majesty had a feeling this would happen,” he says as he pulls out a checkbook and pen. “How much for the cat? The little blind one? And everything we’d need to take care of him.”

The receptionist, to her credit, only looks surprised for a moment before getting the adoption papers together. “Hard to take kids here and leave without a new addition to the family,” she says. 

“That it is,” Drautos says. 

This is a victory, Ignis thinks when the cat knocks over a glass of water and ruins Noct’s maths workbook two weeks later. This is a victory.

Noct smiles and laughs and holds his cat in gentle hands and Ignis smiles too. 

* * *

This is a victory, Ignis thinks as he waits for Noctis to awaken. The cat is long dead and Ignis is blind and the City is gone and another is destroyed but Noct is alive and  _ that _ is a victory. 

Agni means “fire” in Ancient Solheimian, Ignis recalls. The same as his own name in Ancient Lucian. A fine coincidence. 

_ Kinda scary _ , Ignis runs a hand over his scarred brow.  _ But I love him _ .

 


End file.
